Sunday, October 12, 2008

Heinmot Tookyalakekt Still Larger Than Life



Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

That is the name of the person depicted beyond that corner, better known as "Chief Joseph" of the Nez Perce tribe of the Wallowa, one of the last peoples forced away from their original tribal lands to reservations. Only about 150 of those that did not flee to Canada survived the government moves. This is a sample of the mural spray paint art of Andrew Morrison, an immensely talented young Seattle artist whose family on his father's side are Haida and on his mother's side are Apache. I was passing Wilson Pacific School on Wallingford and 90th when I spied these huge murals that beckoned me to come closer. I walked the entire school grounds and found many enormous murals depicting American Indians of all tribes (see the murals sections on Andrew's website). Each filled a two story high wall exquisitely capturing fine detail using spray paint. To give you some idea of the size, my head would only come up to the top of that earring on the left.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an interesting painting and the others must be just as stunning to see. I wonder how he does it. With or on ladders?

Fashion Schlub said...

wow - amazing artwork on such a large scale. I can barely print larger than normal, ha, let alone paint a detailed portrait like 100x magnified! And I love your perspective of seeing just part of his face from around the corner...

Kate said...

Love your narrative on the comment section. There seems to have been an amazing number of unwanted visitors these last few days on many blogs.

You must have really enjoyed the remarkable visual experience of those images you describe. Our country has so many pluses and minuses, and the way our government has treated the Indians is scandalous. I just saw a car loaded with signs and slogans, and the best was: "Sure you can trust the government. Ask any Indian."

Pat said...

Excellent choice of perspective here. I am happy to see attention being called to the Native Americans, and admire this artist. One of my grandmothers way back was a Blackfoot; Stillwater--lovely name, I think.

Barbara Rahal said...

I think big scale art like this are just AMAZING, great art and very interesting history behind it...Thanks for sharing! I love the perspective you took!

Hope said...

This is just amazing! Beautiful! I'm so glad I stopped by your blog today.

Hilda said...

I think the artwork is amazing! And the feather with the blood is a graphically powerful — and painful — image.

• Eliane • said...

I like how you framed the first picture!